Characters: Colonies may exceed 2 metres across. They have extensive encrusting bases with short thick tapered branches. Central branches of large colonies are conical; peripheral branches are irregularly prostrate. Radial corallites are small and mostly rasp-like.
Colour: Greenish or pinkish grey or brown.
Similar Species: Like the encrusting base of Acropora robusta but seldom develops large branches. Small colonies of these species may be inseparable.
Habitat: Reef flats exposed to strong wave action and lagoons.
Abundance: Common in the central Indian Ocean, uncommon elsewhere.
Taxonomic Note: Made a junior synonym of Acropora robusta by Wallace (1999) and Wallace, Done and Muir (2012). However, we have studied A. pinguis at its type locality and elsewhere and find these species readily distinguishable in the field and in collections.
Taxonomic References: Wells (1950); Veron (2000a);
